Chapter 9 - Into the Unknown
...
Saturday seemed like it took a century to arrive. All week, we were bombarded with new spells, wand movements, and creatures. I couldn't believe it was only our first week. By Wednesday, we had perfected red and green sparks and by Thursday, everyone had managed to turn their match into a needle, or at least half-managed. I was surprised to count myself among the completely successful batch.
We learned other things, though. Thursday mornings were horrid from having Astronomy at midnight the day before. Potions was the easiest class for me, since it was the closest subject to what I had imagined magic to be. It was similar to cooking as well, except the ingredients were so foreign. Tom thought it was the most boring of course, but that didn't stop Professor Slughorn from being absolutely enamored with him. All the teachers were, in fact. I thought it was strange. I couldn't recall Tom being so loved by our Muggle teachers. I think it was the exact opposite, actually: they all loathed having him in class, for whatever reason. But Tom had never excelled in English and history, while he did in everything he tried at Hogwarts.
When Friday night arrived, I was too tired but to fall into bed and wait for tomorrow. The others chatted excitedly, but the lull of the lake water drowned them out. All were gone but Diana when I woke up.
"Finally up!" Diana cried. "Come on, let's eat."
I brushed a strand of blonde hair out of my eyes to squint at her, still slightly disoriented. "Hm...? Oh, Diana—you didn't have to wait."
"I was thinking we could have breakfast today."
I was caught off guard. I had been eating with Tom almost exclusively.
"Well, I thought—"
"I think Tom already left," Diana said. "I heard him in the Common Room a while ago."
"Oh." I tried not to be hurt. "Okay, then." I dressed as quickly as possible (it still felt odd to undress in front of my dorm mates) into a dress from Wool's. It was nice to be back in my old clothes again.
I saw Tom sitting at the Slytherin table as we passed by him to find empty seats. He was surrounded by a gaggle of boys. I waved at him. He returned the gesture.
"Are you really close to him?" Diana asked when we sat.
I almost laughed at the question. "No, no."
"Only because you seemed all disappointed."
"Well—" I put my fork down a glanced down the table to where Tom was. "When we were at our orphanage, we would sometimes talk. And when I learned I was coming here was the only one who I knew and I was the only one he knew. So we just stuck together." He caught me looking at him and met my eyes.
Diana noticed and grinned. "Must be nice to be friends with him anyway. He's so good at everything."
I looked back at her. "I know. Complete opposite of me, right?"
"I've seen far worse," Diana said. "You just need confidence. And maybe relax," she added as an afterthought. "I was going to walk around and explore today. Do you want to come with me?"
I thought for barely a second before taking her up on her offer. Briefly, a spell of disquiet flashed through me when I remembered Tom would have to learn how to get around the castle himself, but on a second glimpse of him, surrounded by other students, I decided he would be all right. Besides, I could always tell him what I saw later. And I doubted Diana and I could cover every centimeter of Hogwarts there was to cover.
There was a lot of it. It took the morning alone to figure out the mechanisms of all the staircases, Diana taking a particularly scary fall when she forgot to jump over the false step we discovered, and I had to hoist her out to safety. After that we went up to the Owlery, though our visit there was quick: it smelled of droppings. But I enjoyed looking at the birds, with their ever-quirking heads and bright, clever eyes. Then we walked along the lake. I hadn't seen it above the surface since our first night. In the sunlight crystals seemed to dance along the water, droplets spraying us when the Giant Squid raised a tentacle at us. We waved back. The Giant Squid was all right. A few nights ago we found it suctioned along the dorm windows and were given a fright, but it proved to be an amiable creature, often times swimming by the common room as well to give us shows.
Diana and I took a seat under a great willow tree. It was late afternoon, and I was feeling drained. I leaned back on the trunk while Diana spread herself out on the grass. She sighed happily. "It's great, isn't it?"
"Yeah," I agreed. Hogwarts was certainly amazing. Large and unexpected. Much different from Wool's, where everything was cramped and scheduled.
"It's just weird finally being here, you know? Not even my dad can come, and he's older than I am! Ha! Mum always told me stories about when she was here. I've been looking forward to turning eleven all my life."
"Mm." I wasn't sure how to respond.
"Oh..." Diana rolled over onto her stomach and looked at me. Embarrassment painted her face and she rubbed her neck. "I guess I shouldn't talk about parents?"
I shrugged. "It's okay. I don't mind."
Diana kept her eyes on me as she pulled out tufts of grass. Finally she stood and joined me against the tree. She tipped her head forward to look at me sideways. "Do you miss being—at the orphanage?"
"No," I said after a moment. "Not really. It wasn't a nice place to live."
Diana sat back and begin to shred the grass in her hands. "Well, I guess there must be something else that bothers you, but I won't ask."
A warm breeze ruffled the leaves of the willow. I swallowed and suddenly a swell of emotion rose up. Hogwarts was incredible. The best school in Britain for magic. And all I could think about was wanting to leave. I felt like such a spoiled child. Ungrateful and petulant. Not to mention Diana had been trying so hard all day to cheer me up and all I could offer back were a few lukewarm smiles. I hadn't yet met anyone my age who was so open and willing to befriend me.
"You okay?" Diana asked suddenly, frowning.
"Sorry," I mumbled. "Only it's hard for me to be happy about this. I—I don't care about learning all this. I just want to have a family. And n-now I won't ever have the chance because I'm h-here." I wiped my face roughly of a few tears. "Probably sounds like I'm a real brat, right?"
"I don't think you are," Diana said. We sat in silence for a while until Diana reached into her pocket and pulled out a half-eaten chocolate frog. "Here, have this." Without waiting for a response, she took my hand and put the piece of chocolate into it. "You got to make the best things when you're down, don't you? Well, you've got Tom, you've got me, and now you have some sweets." She smiled at me.
"Three chapters to read!" Diana grumbled a few weeks later as she, Tom, and I left Herbology. "Don't teachers realize we have other classes?" We made the trek up from the greenhouses as she spoke to get to Defense Against the Dark Arts. "I hope Professor Merrythought doesn't give us any..."
Next to me, Tom came up short. "I forgot to get the moly for her," he muttered. He had been moodily silent for most of our way back up, deep in thought. "That's what it was!"
"What?" I asked, confused. "What moly?"
"Professor Merrythought asked me to bring some moly for her to use in class. He shrugged off his bag. "Tell her I'll be late, will you?" he asked.
I took shouldered his bag and sighed. "All right, but hurry up!"
Tom gave me a quick grin and then turned to sprint down the hill. Diana clicked her tongue. "That Tom. Like he needs to be excused for being late; all the teachers love him."
"Well he's very polite," I began. But she was right, I mused as we approached the Defense Against the Dark Arts class room. Tom never seemed to have to justify anything to anyone. Not that he had to. He was perfect. Diana and I slipped into our regular seats as the bell sounded.
Professor Merrythought no longer took attendance aloud, now that she knew our faces. We murmured among ourselves as she checked off names in her book. She paused and glanced towards Tom's empty seat. "Has anyone seen Riddle?"
He's here," I said quickly. "I think he forgot something—"
"Professor, I have it!" Tom exclaimed, bursting through the door, panting. In his arms was a large plant pot, white flowers sprouting out of the dirt. "The moly you asked for."
"Ah, thank you, Riddle. Well, have a seat before I mark you absent."
Tom nodded, still trying to catch his breath. He put the pot on Professor Merrythought's desk and slid into my bench. Under the table, I silently put his bag on his lap.
"The last several days, we have been working on practical defensive spells," Professor Merrythought announced after closing her ledger with a snap. "But suppose that you have been disabled in some sort and are wandless. Now we will cover options if you find yourself in some situation. Moly." She cut a sprig from the pot and held it for us to see. "A relatively rare plant, but useful it you can get your hands on it." Professor Merrythought tapped the cutting and it instantly multiplied, one sample lying on each of our desks. "Take a minute and examine it."
I picked up the flower and turned it around. It appeared like any other flower I had ever seen, although the petals were very wide, and almost a little leathery to the touch. "Have you felt it?" I asked Tom with some surprise. He nodded. "It's weird."
"Miss Spencer!" I jumped and looked up.
"Yes, Professor?"
"What can you tell me about moly?"
"Um, the petals are—very thick—"
"Mm," Professor Merrythought agreed. "Why do you suppose this is?"
I sat quietly without an answer.
"All right, let's think about this," Professor Merrythought said. "What do you think you're suppose to do with it?"
"...Eat it?" I said hesitantly.
"Very good. When you eat it, will those petals be very nice to chew on?"
"No."
"Why? What could it be about them that makes them so difficult?"
My eyes darted back to the flower, lying still on the desk. I wanted to reach out and feel those petals again, but I had taken to holding onto the bench I was sitting on and couldn't wrench my fingers loose. Next to me, I could hear Tom playing with his wand almost silently. It was tapping on his lap ever so softly. I let myself be distracted, let myself be drawn away from the spotlight.
"Magic. Magical healing," I muttered. The tapping stopped abruptly.
"What was that?" Professor Merrythought asked.
I looked up. "The petals, they have—" I stopped and turned to Tom. He gazed back steadily. "They have healing magic in them. You eat them and are protected from Dark magic."
"Excellent!" Professor Merrythought said. "Ten points to Slytherin. Now if we take what Miss Spencer to be true, let's delve deeper..."
"Thank you for helping me," I said to Tom later as we sat down for dinner.
"What are you talking about?" he said, taking a roll for himself.
"Well, maybe you didn't realize it, but the way you were playing with your wand, it helped me," I explained.
"Oh. You're welcome, then, I guess. But I don't think I didn't do anything. You were able to figure it out yourself."
I felt a flush of pride. I suppose I had.
"Listen, I've been thinking," Tom said quietly. "We should find out who our parents were. I've talked with some teachers. They say there're records in the library that we could look at. I was going to look tonight, with the weekend coming up and all."
"You want me to come with you?" I asked.
"Well don't you want to find out?" Tom said.
I wasn't really. It didn't matter to me whether my parents had gone to Hogwarts or not. But it wouldn't hurt to know.
"All right," I agreed.
